Isles 6 – Pens 4: Poor Goaltending, costly turnovers continue to plague Penguins as series is all tied up

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John Tavares scored with 9:49 left in the third perod to break a 4-4 tie and the Penguins goaltending and defensive issues continued, as the series is now tied at 2-2 following a New York Islanders 6-4 win tonight at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Tavares goal told the story of how the Penguins have played over the last three games as Evgeni Malkin made an awful turnover inside his own zone, failing to make the simple play of going off the boards with the puck.

Costly turnovers inside their own end have been a consistent problem of late for the Penguins as has mediocre goaltending from Marc Andre Fleury who struggled again to shut the door in key situations and make basic saves at some points, giving up a number of poor goals tonight. New York scored 6 goals on 24 shots.

The Penguins have allowed 14 goals in their last three games and are lucky that they are not down 3-1 in the series.

Trade Buzz: Thursday’s 1-for-1 trade of young underperforming players saw the Minnesota Wild acquire center Victor Rask from the Carolina Hurricanes for left winger Nino Niederreiter. Carolina did an excellent job of being able to get out of the Rask contract, who has three years remaining with a $4 million cap hit. Rask has 1 goal, 5 assists on the season, mirrored in a 22-game goal drought. The logic here for Minnesota is taking the chance on a playmaking center who can help fill a top-9 spot longer term if the Wild move on from Eric Staal. Minnesota is also playing the card that a change of scenery will benefit the 24-year old who posted a career-high 21 goals, 48 points in 2015-2016.

Niederreiter’s trade value was stunted because of his contract, where he has three years left on his deal with a $5.25 million cap hit. Niederreiter is a player who is extremely hard to play against, drives possession well, and has three 20 goal seasons over his last four full seasons. Injuries (18 goals in 63 games) kept him from a 4th straight 20-goal season in 17-18. The Niederreiter acquisition also sets up as great insurance for the Hurricanes if they can’t resign Micheal Ferland. In the short-term, Carolina’s center situation is a mess with Jordan Staal sidelined with a concussion, but they’re getting the better player who fits the identity they’re trying to establish upfront, especially on the wings where they’ve identified the need for Patric Hornqvist type players.